A 20-year-old from Burley-in-Wharfedale has lots to celebrate after losing 4st 8lb to reach the finals of a UK-wide slimming competition where she met Olympic gold medallist Luke Campbell. Laura Elchaar was delighted to make the final 33 in Slimming World’s Young Slimmer of the Year 2013 competition, out of all 10,000 Slimming World groups across the UK and Ireland.

The competition recognises the achievements of young people aged 16 to 21 in making long-term lifestyle changes to become fitter, healthier and happier.

Laura joined the Burley-in-Wharfedale Slimming World group in May 2012 and since that first visit has gone from 13st 7lb to 8st 13lb.

She said: “I used to feel like I was different to all my friends, I felt like I stood out because I was bigger and I couldn’t always do the same things or wear the same clothes as them. It affected my confidence and I didn’t want to be like that for the rest of my life. I knew that I needed to make changes and I knew I needed help to do that. “I came to Slimming World with my mum. I was really nervous but everyone was friendly and helpful. It was much easier than I expected to start making healthy choices and I soon realised that I didn’t need to make drastic changes, just small things like swapping white bread for wholemeal and starting to cook instead of having junk or convenience foods made a big difference. I picked up lots of recipes and tips in the group – I’m actually not a bad cook now – and the encouragement I got from the other members and my consultant Dorrie really kept me going.”

Her fellow members in the Burley-in-Wharfedale group voted for her to represent them in the Young Slimmer of the Year competition and she was invited to the semi-finals, which were held at Slimming World’s head office in Derbyshire.

It was there she met boxer Luke Campbell, who came along to make the day extra special for the 33 young people taking part.

Luke, who won gold at the London 2012 Olympics boxing for Great Britain in the 56kg bantamweight division and received his MBE in June, says: “It was incredible to win gold at London last year and I’ve had some wonderful opportunities since then, like meeting all of the amazing young slimmers. The reason the Olympics were so special to me was that it wasn’t just one fight, it was the result of years of hard work and I’m sure it’s the same for Laura. She didn’t achieve this weight loss overnight, it takes real dedication to make such a change but it’s great that she’s now got a happy healthy life ahead of her. It shows true fighting spirit!”

Unfortunately Laura wasn’t the overall winner of the competition.